Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Hen – 02

「さくらと出口のない部屋」 (Sakura to Deguchi no Nai Heya)
“Sakura and The Room with No Exit”

Piggybacking off of its strong start, this week’s episode was just as good as last week’s (if not a wee bit better)!

General Impressions

Kicking off right after last week’s abrupt ending, it looks like we still don’t know all that much about what’s going on. Seeing how all the original Clow Cards are still blank and Sakura is now in possession of two new cards, I don’t think it’s too much of a stress to think she’ll have to collect new versions of all the cards that were previously available. That said, it would help if we could get a wee bit more info when it comes to who’s behind all of these shenanigans. Besides a few glimpses at a masked figure who only appears in Sakura’s dreams, but has the ability to affect things outside of them, we can only speculate just who or what is involved in all of this. That said, I don’t think it’ll be too long before the story ramps things up and we get the answers we’re looking for.

Shifting gears, boy was it great watching Sakura go through the motions this week. Besides all the adorable moments between her and Tomoyo, I loved getting to see Sakura and Touya duke it out even though the two were supposed to have grown a bit more understanding at the end of the original series. At this point though, I’m really hoping he’ll catch Kero-chan while he’s not pretending to be a stuffed animal and finally call Sakura out on it (too bad it’ll never happen though).

All-in-all, not too much to really say about this episode. Besides Tomoyo getting an opportunity to help out with her trusty sewing tools on her, we didn’t really learn all that much this week except that these new cards can appear just about anywhere and at any time. As I said earlier though, hopefully we’ll more about what’s going on in time and that the story’s pacing keeps up at its current pace if not move a little faster. Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week where it looks like we’ll get to see some more school antics as well as a new outfit on Sakura!

The one thing I really appreciate about this show is the creativity of all the outfits that Sakura wears. Kudos to Tomoyo-chan every time. Sakura’s character design just works with a great variety of outfits and she looks super cute in every one : )

While I am desperately praying for Meilin to show up in this anime again, I will say, I do like the fact that she was mentioned in this episode and that “festival” that Chiharu mentioned might have been from the second movie.

I don’t know if its cause I’ve only seen the English version, but I remember the cast having more personality & spirit to them. I’m enjoying the new series, but it is bugging me that everyone walks around in the same happy delirious state like they’re all heavily drugged.

American Cardcaptors is real different tone-wise. This pretty much is how it was in the original Japanese series, where everyone was really pleasant, and amiable, with silly jokes and blushing romance, Kero-antics, and cute moments around every corner. Maybe you’re waiting for cool ACTION, and DRAMA, and SUSPENSE, and you might discover that none of that really happens until the last 5 minutes of every episode. But if you approach every episode just waiting for those moments, you would be missing the point. It’s not a mystic adventure of power and mystery with slice-of-life on the side. It’s actually reversed.

Also, in response to SuicuneSol’s comment, I think in the Japanese version, the focus actually varied from episode to episode. While a lot of the episodes focused on Sakura’s everyday life and her regular hum-drum activities only to get interrupted towards the end of each episode by a Clow Card before capturing it, there were a few episodes that focused more on the actual card capturing itself such as the one where she discovers the Big Card and how it has been making everyday stuff larger than usual, only to on that same night discover the Create Card and its making of weird fantasy creatures.

It’s a bit odd, but they’re still waiting to hear from Eriol so I think they figure there’s no need to completely freak out until they receive word from him. That said, I would still be doing a lot more in the meantime to figure out what’s going on until then.

I feel like if I was Sakura and Eriol didn’t respond within 24h to something as significant as the cards turning clear and new ones appearing, I would have called him directly instead of politely waiting for him to write back. Everyone’s just a little too laid-back about all this for the story to have any sort of real urgency. Granted Sakura has a point that there’s nothing she could do at the moment, so she should carry on with her life as before, but story-telling wise it feels like CLAMP is deliberately stalling the plot.

The world CCS has created is supposed to be utopian-like. Its purpose is to create pleasure and make people feel calm. That’s why they good rid of the pointy edges of Yukito’s and Touya’s chins and the hard contour lines of Tsubasa Chronicle. You can tell people aren’t exactly hustling or over-ambitious in this world.

Sakura doesn’t train or develop her powers until she’s forced to. Which is why Eriol had to put her through all that sh*t in the second season so she can change the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards.

This is the exact reason why I’ve always had a hard time getting into CCS. The designs are beautiful and the characters are cute, but everyone is so optimistic, friendly and cheerful all the time (especially Sakura and her friends) that I just have a hard time relating to them.

The old anime did a better job of rounding out Sakura’s character, giving the cards unique personalities, and adding a touch of actual “stake” into the story. The manga was always just… a fluff piece, basically. Good artwork, but excessively bubbly to the point that you read a chapter at a time because it was overwhelming fluff with no chew or bite to it.

So I guess this is the middleground, but it’s leaning more towards the manga which is sad because the story just needs more.

I think it’s important to remember the shows target audience. If you’re watching expecting a super serious storyline and lots at stake you should probably stop watching now. This will always be a light fluffy show with some “serious” moments when the story calls for it.

That’s true, but in the old series, the characters had more range. Sakura & Li fought like cat n dog most of the time & when magical problems arose, everybody treated it with the gravitas it deserved. Now everybody is the same hive mind & walks through their day like in a trance.

so, i feel bad to by the one who deliver bad news. but …nothing BIG is going to happen. why? … the manga is the same of this episode. so maybe at episode 12 the plot will star to advance somewhere (since this an adaptation, and can make some changes). right now we’d 19 monthly chapters and nothing had developed, something besides the usual new card and some conversions between characters talking about “a special moment” … that’s all

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